Chow Sum-tin used to work as a football coach. Now, she is the proud owner of a takeaway shop hidden away in Tai Kok Tsui.
Most of the profits from her small shop go towards her mission of helping stray animals. So far, she has rescued more than 100 cats.
The little eatery, called Spicy Fishballs Please, doesn't look special. But it is filled with strings of cat toys and a big family of felines.
During the day, she cooks food and sends out delivery orders. She is particularly proud of her spicy chicken pots. Then, by night, she searches the neighbourhood for stray cats. She feeds them and, if she can, she shelters them before finding permanent homes for them.
"This is my childhood dream: I have always wanted to open my own shop so I could cook for others. And now, I can even help stray cats – it feels even better," she says.
Her love for animals was nurtured by her family. Sum-tin jokes that her childhood home was like a zoo: a rooster, a hen and a dog lived on the balcony, while the living room was for the turtles and cats.
In 2014, while living in Mong Kok, she started feeding the cats hiding in the back streets.
One day, while roaming Tai Kok Tsui, she found a restaurant where her shop is now. The boss fell ill during the pandemic.
"He knew I had been saving stray cats with my cooking, so he asked me if I would like to take over his shop," says Sum-tin.
In December 2021, she opened the shop.
"My ultimate goal is to open an actual restaurant, not just a takeaway shop," she says. "And next to the restaurant, I would rent a space so people can come to look at the cats and play with them."
Five things to know about
1. Cats are one of the most popular pets. There are probably more than 500 million pet cats in the world.
2. Cats and humans have lived together for nearly 10,000 years!
3. Cats are expert hunters and very sneaky. When they walk, their back paws step in almost exactly the same place as their front paws did before, to keep as quiet as possible.
4. Cats have powerful night vision, allowing them to see six times better than we can in low light. Cats also have excellent hearing and a powerful sense of smell.
5. Cats are great leapers. They can leap as far as five times their own body length. But cats also like to save energy. Often, a cat will sleep for 13 or 14 hours a day!
